SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NEWS & NOTES
• Kevin Knight has not only signed with AEW, he’s also inked a new deal with New Japan as well becoming the latest wrestler to have dual contracts.
• Konosuke Takeshita had the distinction of defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in Tanahashi’s final match in the United States at Windy City Riot last Friday night.
• Collision will air live Thursday night so as not to conflict with WrestleMania this weekend. It’ll be interesting to see if the ratings are stronger and if that encourages Tony Khan to potentially move the show.
• AEW announced that Forbidden Door 2025 will take place at London’s O2 Arena on August 24 and that Dynamite will emanate from Scotland on August 20.
• Late-breaking this morning: AEW in cooperation with CMLL will present Grand Slam: Mexico from the historic Arena Mexico on June 18.
INTRO
This show marks a milestone in AEW’s history. Tonight, Dynamite will air its 289th episode, officially surpassing the number of episodes of WCW Monday Nitro.
When Nitro was cancelled, it didn’t seem likely there would ever be wrestling on the Turner networks again much less a show that would last longer than Nitro, but here we are. I think they should’ve made a bigger deal about this show instead of stitching it together in a week. However, the show is pretty darn loaded.
There are three Owen Hart Tournament matches, including one featuring Will Ospreay vs. Takeshita and another featuring “Hangman” Adam Page vs. the wildcard. For once the wildcard really is just that. If it’s Josh Alexander or someone like that, I think Ospreay becomes the prohibitive favorite to win the whole thing. If it’s Darby Allin back from Mount Everest, that changes everything. The outcome becomes much more difficult to predict. Rarely is there a true mystery in wrestling, but we have one tonight. In addition, there’s a Trios Title match as well as a tag team match that could be a slobber knocker.
Note: This week’s column will look a little different because there aren’t clearly set and defined feuds yet so I had to get a little creative.
Everyone, Everywhere, All at Once
Latest Developments
The Young Bucks explained their actions from Dynasty while Kenny Omega confronted his former friends and Swerve Strickland set his sights on revenge. Meanwhile “Mox + The Mechanics” faced a new challenge from the Opps.
Analysis
Following the opening match between Mox and Shibata, The Bucks approached the ring and tried to make nice with Mox. Mox did not seem interested at all. The Bucks explained that they helped Mox win for two reasons: To try to broker a relationship between the Elite and Moxley’s Death Riders and for Hangman.
The Bucks expressed awe that Mox and his crew had been successful where the Bucks had failed – that is, in taking control of AEW. The Bucks said they and Mox had the same goal in mind: making AEW the best pro wrestling company in the world. So they pitched the idea of the Elite and the Death Riders working together.
Instead of getting a response from Mox, Kenny Omega made his way out. Omega said that if the Bucks were into helping former friends, they forgot about helping him. He recounted that the last time they’d seen each other the Bucks had tossed him off a stretcher in an attempt to kill him with his own diverticulitis. He said when he returned, he was focused on his legacy and “restoring the feeling.”
He then veered into a story in which he said “dookie” a lot and likened the Bucks to two yappy little dogs who pooped everywhere. He then rehashed the Bucks shredding documents before fleeing for their lives in October and said that the thing that really bothered him was that they tried to kill the company he nearly gave his life and health for. He finally wrapped up by heading to the ring to fight them at which point Kazuchika Okada came out.
That brought out Swerve who snuck in the ring behind The Elite with a chair. The Elite fled the ring. Swerve and Omega fist bumped in solidarity. Swerve then cut a short promo pronouncing it “Buck hunting season” and saying he a loaded shotgun ready to blast some EVPs.
There’s a lot to unpack here. The Bucks excuse that they did it for Hangman is just that, an excuse; but at least it sets up Hangman at some point telling the Bucks to back off which the Bucks will no doubt not take well. The other half of the Bucks explanation made perfect sense though. The Bucks are smarmy little weasels who do not want the smoke from Moxley and his crew. That’s why they avoided fighting them last fall.
Of course, they’d choose the path of least resistance and want to team up now. By that same token, Mox did exactly what he should’ve done which is not give them the time of day. The Bucks were sniveling, weak, and ineffectual whereas the Death Riders have been ruthless, cutthroat, and successful since their inception. At this point, the Elite have nothing to offer Mox that would give him any reason at all to want to team up with them.
Omega confronting The Bucks was a no-brainer after everything they did to him a year ago. While I appreciate Kenny’s authentic quirks and awkwardness, I could’ve done without the weird story. The only time the word “dookie” should be used by a grown adult is if the conversation has to do with the Green Day album.
Omega’s point that the Bucks were ruining AEW in his absence is valid. I just wish he’d chosen a different way to get there. Swerve was the best part of all. He was serious and focused on his revenge. It’s going to be fun watching him try to hunt the Bucks. It very much seems like Omega and Swerve might team up in this fight against the Elite. The question is who would be their third.
Right now Hangman is still in the Owen Hart Tournament, although that could change on Wednesday. There was a segment backstage where Hangman attempted to go make certain things to clear to Swerve, but ran into Prince Nana instead. Nana attempted to apologize for his role in Swerve’s home invasion but Hangman shut him down.
It’s clear that Hangman isn’t ready to hear or process an apology as his hatred for Swerve has been the defining thing in his psyche for the last 18 months. Hangman continues to be one the most compelling people in wrestling and we clearly on the road to an uneasy alliance between two men who have inflicted near inhuman levels of pain on each other. Will that start in a trios match at Double or Nothing? We’ll have to wait and see.
Elsewhere on the show, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta were defeated by Samoa Joe and Hook of The Opps. After the match, Claudio and Wheeler attacked The Opps, specifically isolating and attacking Hook, who ended up eating a Neutralizer on a chair. Joe grabbed a mic and a laid down a challenge for the Trios Titles.
In this column last week, I cheered the idea of their being a strong team to challenge for the Trios Titles separate from whoever is challenging Mox. Given that this match is happening tonight on Dynamite it certainly seems like this is more of a stepping stone to something else.
It should be noted that Pac was injured in a match with Swerve last week, so Mox will be stepping in to take his place in the match. If I had to guess, Samoa Joe is probably going to be positioned as the next challenger for the AEW World Title. I don’t hate that idea; Joe remains the most legit badass in the game. He’s a more than credible challenger for Mox and he comes with backup to fight off the rest of the Death Riders.
Grade: N/A
FTR Stands for Firmly Truly Reviled
Latest Developments
FTR explained their betrayal of Adam Copeland, attacked Tony Schiavone, murdered 2.0, and turned on Daniel Garcia all in the span of 90 minutes on Saturday night.
Analysis
Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler were very busy men on Collision last Saturday night. They opened the show with a promo explaining their vicious assault on Adam Copeland. Cash said that Copeland had been his friend for 15 years but the more Dax talked to him, the more he started to see that Dax was right. He said Copeland had been holding down FTR to advance his own career.
Dax then took the mic and said that they had sacrificed four months of their careers trying to help Copeland have one last title run and punctuated his point by saying that Copeland was too selfish. He then turned his attention to Tony Schiavone, who on Dynamite, assailed FTR’s attack on Copeland and said Dax’s daughter must be disappointed in him.
Dax insisted Schiavone enter the ring. Nigel McGuiness attempted to dissuade Schiavone from doing so, but Tony dismissed his concern and joined FTR in the ring. Dax asked to Tony to reiterate what he’d said on Wednesday, this time to their faces. Tony obliged.
When Tony mentioned Dax’s daughter again, Dax said nothing, choosing instead to set him up for a spike piledriver. Nigel leapt into action, dropping his headset and jumping into the ring to save Tony. He put himself between Schiavone and FTR until Daniel Garcia ran out to presumably cool things off only to get shoved down instead. FTR helped him up and apologized before leaving a confused Garcia in the ring.
This opening segment worked great to solidify FTR has contemptible heels. They made weak excuses for betraying a man who gave them a place to stay when they didn’t have one. They attacked a beloved announcer. The crowd booed them throughout this. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if FTR could get booed again so I’m glad to be wrong. My one issue with this was that the promo part went on too long. Shave off two minutes and get to the attack on Schiavone sooner and the crowd won’t get so restless.
Later in the show 2.0 (Matt Menard & Angelo Parker) confronted FTR as FTR was preparing to leave the building. Refusing to let Dax or Cash speak, they said they’d been waiting two years for FTR to show their true colors and that they wouldn’t allow FTR to do to Garcia what they did to Copeland. That led FTR to challenge them to a match.
The match took place later in the show and was less a match a more of a massacre. FTR brutalized 2.0. Menard bled like crazy and looked like a murder victim by the end of the thing which only lasted three minutes. After the bell, FTR savaged Menard with two spike piledrivers before Garcia intervened. He backed FTR off, but as soon as he turned to check on Menard’s bloody corpse, FTR attacked him. He was also subjected to two spike piledrivers. As FTR set up for a third, security and referees swarmed them. Dax shoved one the refs down before he and Cash cleared out the security and went back to Garcia but were then ran off by The Paragon f/k/a The Undisputed Kingdom.
Murdering Menard and Parker in such emphatic fashion made FTR look as vicious as they’ve looked in a long time. The betrayal of Garcia made them look even more despicable. The Paragon ultimately making the save made sense.
(Quick aside here, I don’t like the name change from the Undisputed Kingdom to The Paragon. I know there was a lot of chatter – mostly from Wade Keller and Jason Powell – about how the Undisputed name was a retread from a previous promotion but Adam Cole, Roddy Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly have been linked together for most of the last ten years. It’s not like some significant amount of time passed and they are trying to go back in time. They’ve been the Undisputed “blank” for most of that and they should’ve stayed that way, although I understand if the presumed departure of Matt Taven and Mike Bennett necessitated the dropping of the “Kingdom” from their name.)
Digressing, there is a rubber match between FTR and O’Reilly & Strong still waiting to happen so it made sense they intervened. Once that match happens though, Garcia is still going to need a partner to battle FTR. Adam Cole should be defending the TNT Title not taking part in a tag feud. I wouldn’t mind if Nigel McGuiness, who was more than willing to take the bullet for Schiavone, offered to team up with Garcia. That could be a fun feud until Copeland returns seeking revenge of his own.
Grade: N/A
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: CLICK HERE (or search “wade Keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
The Women’s Owen and Everything That Entails
Latest Developments
Jamie Hayter, Kris Statlander, and Athena all advanced to the semifinals of the women’s Owen Hart Tournament.
Analysis
Statlander vs. Rosa was underwhelming. Jamie Hayter vs. Billie Starkz exceeded expectations. They absolutely laid into each other. There was a particularly nasty suplex from the apron to the floor by Hayter on Starkz. Despite losing, Billie still looked credible. The real story has been Mercedes and Athena.
I expressed hope that there would be some engineering to get out of giving away that match on free TV. That did not happen, though. The Athena-Harley match went as expected with Harley doing okay but struggling to hang with Athena at points before ultimately succumbing to an O-Face. That set up Mercedes vs. Athena for the first time ever tonight in Boston. I still wish this match had been preserved for All In. That said once the bell ring, if given proper time, it could be better in-ring then any women’s match on this weekend’s WrestleMania card.
To me the smart move here would be to have Robyn Renegade interfere and cost Athena. Mercedes advances. likely to face Jamie Hayter. Hayter can beat Mercedes at Double or Nothing and then Athena can come after Mercedes for revenge. There’s still a path here to avoid the problematic Toni vs Mercedes match at All In. I’m totally here for Toni and Jamie running back their super physical match from Full Gear 2022.
On a separate but still related note, I feel really bad for Megan Bayne. This tourney has left her hung out to dry. She squashed to enhancement talent on Collision like this was her second week in the promotion. If she wasn’t going to beat Toni Storm, she never have been put in that match regardless of how well-protected she was.
Grade: N/A
MJF… in the Hurt Syndicate?
Latest Developments
MJF’s latest attempt to join the Hurt Syndicate ended in a shouting match with Bobby Lashley and thumbs down from Shelton Benjamin.
Analysis
The Hurt Syndicate held a celebration for their tag title victory over Big Bill and Bryan Keith. MJF interrupted the celebration and attempted to blend in with Lashley and Benjamin. Lashley didn’t take too kindly to that and things devolved into a shouting match with MJF repeatedly calling Lashley “Bob.”
MVP broke things up and told Max that the only way he could get into the group was with three thumbs up. MVP held a vote and MJF immediately failed when Benjamin gave him a thumbs down. Later in the night, MVP approached a still irate Max and told him that he has to figure what the consumer wants and give it to them.
This was an interesting chapter in this story. Setting up a voting system implies there’s not just a chance MJF could get in, but that that’s the direction the story is going. I hope it’s just a misdirection though, because MJF doesn’t fit in with the Hurt Syndicate and continued entreaties on his part could unintentionally turn into Sami Zayn trying to get into the Bloodline which would be terrible.
We’ve also seen MJF worm his way into a faction in AEW only to turn on them shortly thereafter, so I don’t want to see a rehash of that. What needs to happen is that Max gets frustrated and recruits two guys to help him fight the Hurt Syndicate.
In the meantime, the Hurt Syndicate will do battle with the Gates of Agony. I wish the Gates of Agony had gotten more than their one obligatory win before a loss. This match would have a little more heft to it. Still, it should be fun even if it is mostly a backdrop for movement in the MJF-Hurt Syndicate storyline.
Grade: B+
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